I am very happy to have added my first
win the Theme Portfolio Competition to the Open Portfolio that
I won back in December.

The inspiration for this portfolio came
from the central image on the top row, which I took three years
ago. The remaining images were all taken on a single dawn dive
at Stingray City, Grand Cayman, in January 2005.

The rays of Grand Cayman's Stingray
City are world famous, but what is less widely known is that at
dawn the rays form into a super school numbering more than 80
and circle the site in formation. This behaviour stops as soon
as the first feeding boat arrives. I was first shown this
behaviour in the summer on 2002 (when I took the original
image) by marine biologist, artist and documentary filmmaker Dr
Guy Harvey. And ever since that first trip I have been trying
to get back. The problem is that unless you have loads of cash
it is pretty difficult to persuade anyone to take you to
Stingray City at dawn! So when I was asked to host the Digital
Jam event, my main condition was that we would do a dawn dive
with the stingrays! That is when these pictures were
taken.

I was on teaching duty
during the Digital Jam week and was not really taking images for
myself. I didn't even have a camera of my own with me! These
pictures were taken with a Nikon D70 that I borrowed for the dive
from a friend on the island! I guess at this point I should add a
shameless plug for next year's Digital Jam! Please drop me an
email if you fancy seeing the schooling rays for yourself next
January!

1) A pair of stingrays
glide down the side of the Sandbar. All these images are lit only
with available light, and this is the only one that I used a
filter. Although the images were all taken on one dive I returned
to the boat on several occasions to change lenses etc. This image
was taken using a prototype UR Pro filter that I was testing.
Nikon D70 + 20mm lens. F8 @ 1/160th.

2) Squadron. This is the original image
that inspired the portfolio. Nikonos V + 15mm lens. I don't
remember the settings but almost certainly F8 on aperture
priority auto..

3) School of rays. There are actually
30 rays in this image! No filter was used for this image but
the camera was custom white balanced. Nikon D70 + 10.5mm
Fisheye. F8 @ 1/250th.

4) Lone Stingray. The original image
had shown me what strong compositional elements the sand
ripples and the shadows of the rays are in black and white.
This image was shot specifically for the left side of a
portfolio trying to exploit these features in a different
composition. I used the upper AF sensor on the D70 to focus on
the ray close to the top of the frame. Nikon D70 + 20mm. F6.3 @
1/160th.

5) This was the last image that I added
to the portfolio. For this space I wanted a vertical colour
shot that complimented the three rays above. This image was
shot as a horizontal with the fisheye and then cropped into a
vertical. It is the only image that has any cropping in this
portfolio, as one part of my motivation was to show the rays in
as much space as possible. Nikon D70 + 10.5mm. F8 @
1/160th.

6) This final image, like the other
monochromes was always visualised as a black and white. Again I
was trying to create space in the image, while exploiting the
ripples and horizon in the composition. Stingray City is one of
the few places I shoot where I get a horizon in my underwater
images and it is nice to use it to add depth to the image. This
image doesn't really work this small and does need to be seen
larger. Nikon D70 + 10.5. F8 @ 1/250th.